


smoke and mirrors

by icemakestars



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Multi, Smoking, alcohol mention, existential humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 05:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16340825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemakestars/pseuds/icemakestars
Summary: There was nothing attractive about smoking, but everything attractive about the man holding the cigarette.





	smoke and mirrors

**Author's Note:**

> I s2g this was suppoed to be a 200 word drabble smh... I couldn't choose between LoJu and Gajuvia so have both.
> 
> I DON'T CONDONE SMOKING, DRINKING, DRUG TAKING ETC
> 
> Tumblr: ice-bringer

“Let’s go to the smoking area!” Loke leaned in close, voice barely carrying over the thrum of the music. His lips almost brushied the side of Natsu’s neck as he spoke, and smelled of alcohol and cologne. Natsu dreaded adding cigarette smoke to that list. Even so, he could not leave his friend alone; he followed Loke out of the neon-lit room full of sweaty bodies and sticky drinks. 

He had never understood the appeal of smoking, and knew that Loke only did it when he was under the influence of… whatever he was on that particular night. Natsu had watched him closely, and felt comforted that only alcohol had passed his friend’s lips. 

They followed the winding steps down to the bottom floor of the club, passing a white haired girl who had pushed a red head against the wall. Natsu blushed when Loke wolf whistled in their direction, apologising for his drunken friend when the girls turned around, rightfully indignant. 

“Not everyone wants to have sex with you, Loke.” Natsu mumbled when they first stepped outside. Loke laughed, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and looking at Natsu expectantly.

Natsu sighed, retrieving the lighter from his back pocket. Loke laughed at that and snatched the silver device from Natsu’s open hand.

“You do realise that it’s weird for someone who doesn’t smoke to carry a lighter around with them.” He muttered between the filter which parted his lips. Natsu rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall as he watched Loke fail several times to light his cigarette.

“Yeah, yeah, so you’ve said. I find fire calming though.” 

Loke took one long, satisfying drag. 

“Fucking pyro.” He grinned.

Natsu ignored him, as he often did, and looked at the other people in the smoking area. A man covered in tattoos and piercings with long black hair stood at one end with a pretty blue-haired girl on his knee. Standing across from them was a young man who was so obviously a student that Natsu would have laughed if it wasn’t for how painfully attractive he was. 

He wore a plain white t-shirt which had been torn, graffitied, and mutilated until the young man’s toned muscles was clear through every gap in the fabric. This was common during society initiation, and Natsu was suddenly very glad that he had opted to not join a society in his first year. He squinted to read some of the writing. The first one he laid eyes on read: 

_My will to live may be small, but my dick certainly isn’t._

Natsu didn’t read anymore, because the boy was heading towards him and he was very much aware of how blue the boys eyes were, even in this dim light, and how tight his jeans were, and he didn’t even want to look at his ab muscles because, honestly, it might just spell the end for him. 

“Have you almost finished your cig?” 

Loke took a long, deliberate drag. looking between Natsu and the man who was very nearly at them,

“Hmmm… I might have another one. Haven’t decided.” His smirk was wide with jest and lopsided with liquor. 

“Bastard.” Natsu hissed, turning quickly on his heel. Up close, the man was almost breath taking. Natsu was glad he had not drank too much, because even slightly sober he was struggling to remain calm. 

“Sorry mate, I left my light at home. Can I borrow yours?” He wafted an unlit cigarette at Natsu, who nodded silently. Loke passed him the lighter and introduced them both, only slightly slurring his words.

The man nodded at them, smiling around his cigarette. 

“I’m Gray.” He pushed the smoke from his lungs, meeting Natsu’s eyes and smiling a small, almost sweet smile.

There was nothing attractive about smoking. Natsu had never thought there was, and despised the bad boy trope he had seen advertised in the media. And yet, watching Gray’s pink lips circle the filter as he inhaled, eyes falling shut as he breathed in poison like a dying man seeking water, Natsu was entranced. There was something inherently sad about the boy, something vulnerable and pure. Natsu wanted to protect him.

“You here with a girlfriend, Gray?” Loke asked, and Natsu nearly choked on his spit. His friend had no filter at the best of times, and inebriated he was damn near impossible; it wasn’t the constant university parties which caused his frequent headaches.

Gray eyed Natsu again briefly before turning his attention back to Loke.

“I broke up with my last boyfriend before I started uni, and have just been casually seeing people since then.” 

Loke turned to Natsu fully, raising a single brow and smiling from ear to ear. 

“Is that so?” 

Natsu groaned, low in his throat.  _Bastard!_

“Would you like to come dance with me and my mates?” Gray ignored Loke’s taunt, which Natsu was nothing but grateful for. Loke stubbed out is cigarette and dropped the butt in the bin. 

“Sure.” Natsu grinned his signature toothy smile, and he hoped the red which tinted Gray’s cheeks was not a trick of the lights.

Gray ushered the couple over to them, and Natsu was taken aback by how tall the other man was. The blue haired girl held his hand, and was almost giddy when she met them. 

“I am Juvia, and this is Gajeel! He isn’t as scary as his face looks, I promise.” She laughed airily, and the big man barked out a deep laugh. They wore similar shirts to Gray, seemingly part of the same society. 

“At least I have the balls to approach the people I’m interested in.” He teased, and there was no denying Gray’s blush. 

“Gajeel!” He exclaimed, and Natsu looked confusedly at Loke, who was clearly struggling to contain his own amusement. 

“They’re here together. They’re smoking. One of them has a lighter, you dumbass.” Loke was fully laughing now, his glasses steaming up with the ludicrous nature of it all. 

Gray stubbed out his cigarette and took Natsu’s hand. He practically ignited when he realised the significance of it all, and followed Loke and Gray’s two friends back into the club. Loke had already thrown his arm around Juvia, and was sending her compliments at an alarming rate. 

Before Natsu could ask, Gray pulled him back and pressed his lips close to his ear. His breath was warm, and Natsu was surprised when the smell of cigarettes did very little to repulse him.

“It’s okay, Gajeel and Juvia are very… casual, about things like that. I, however, am much more serious about my partners.” He grazed Natsu’s earlobe with his teeth, dragging him back onto the dance floor before Natsu had time to react.

It seemed as though both him and Loke were in for a better night than they had originally expected.


End file.
